Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and German businessman Matthias Warnig have resigned from the board of Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft, the company said in a statement on Friday.
The move comes a day after the European Parliament urged that Schroeder be blacklisted if he did not quit the board.
“We are sympathetic to their decisions and thank them for their continued support,” Rosneft said.
Schroeder, who was chancellor from 1998 to 2005, was criticised harshly for keeping his post with Rosneft, which he had held since 2017.
Germany this week shut down his taxpayer-funded office amid outrage over his continued involvement in the Russian energy industry and refusal to condemn President Vladimir Putin, whom he counts as a personal friend, over Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
